In association with Marlon Blackwell Architects
The Circle is a mixed-use live-work destination in a small town (Bentonville, Arkansas population: 40,000) undergoing urban succession from low-density metropolitan sprawl to a mature city with density and good town form. At the edge of downtown, The Circle reproduces a grand public room equivalent in scale and quality to Bentonville’s exemplary downtown square, recalibrating a diffused automobile-oriented landscape. Complementing Walmart’s three million square-foot corporate headquarters slated for construction nearby, The Circle creates high-density development while preserving the intimate public spaces found in small-towns. It does this by building a public open space system atop an in-ground parking podium. The Circle offers next-generation lifestyle facilities through co-living and co-working spaces, modular lofts (capable of easy reconfiguration in plan or section), cafes, and support services for short-term and long-term stays. In the tradition of grand urban hotels as social institutions, the site extends the hospitality services in its own hotel to the entire development offering neighborhood-based dining, recreation, shopping, and gathering beyond that for its guests.
Awards
2020 The Plan Awards: Urban Planning Finalist
Client
Dalton Development Corporation